Crimson Red
by mmcnmb1
Summary: A murder bathed in red. The scythe that cuts all indiscriminately. Their never ending search for someone. Crimson is a legend in Mistral, no one knows who she is or where she comes from, and no one wonders. But when three girls finally end their search for her, they are both reunited and separated from the leader they once knew.


**Just a little oneshot idea that wouldn't leave me alone. I honestly feel like there's a much better way to write this than what I did, but its the best I could do. Inspired by the latest episode and some other fanfics I've seen floating around. Enjoy!**

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Her head itched again, insatiable, uncontainable, unstoppable. Crimson ran her fingers through her hair, trying to dispel the feeling. It only kept scratching, over and over and over. Shaking her hood off her head, she tried again to scratch the itch away.

It never itched this much, not normally at least. It only ever itched when she had found someone important, someone who had information on _her_ , someone who needed to die.

Crimson looked around warily, fingers playing with the folded scythe that sat on the ground beside her.

"Hello?" A fearful voice called into the chapel she was currently sitting in.

The itching sensation increased tenfold from what it was, shaking and scratching her head vigorously, Crimson almost considered bashing her head against the wall to stop it. She quickly dismissed the notion, whoever was here probably wanted a fight anyways. The faster she killed them and moved on, the faster she might be able to fix the itch.

"Do you really think she's here Yang?" A quiet voice rang out through the darkness.

"I know she is." The confident reply filled Crimson's ears, overpowering her other thoughts. She wanted to be near that voice, it was familiar, it was comforting, it was- it was a distraction that needed to be put down. Shaking her head for the final time, Crimson stood up and quietly unfurled her scythe, its metallic blade covered in stains of dirt and blood.

The mechanical noise of her scythe unfolding did not go unnoticed by the intruders though, and Crimson could faintly hear the sound of other weapons being readied over the din in her head.

This fight was not going to be an easy one, Crimson could tell that much, her head was too loud for her to think clearly, but her speed had never failed her before and she didn't expect it to now.

She hid behind one of the many pillars lining the room she sat in, thankful for her small frame. Senses on high alert, she patiently waited for the three intruders to enter the room where she would ambush them.

But once they finally appeared in her line of sight, her breath caught in her throat, and she could feel tears come to her eyes, unbidden and unexplainable. She slammed a hand over her mouth, muffling the sob that rose from her chest.

One of the girls heard it though, probably thanks to the black cat ears sticking out of her equally dark hair.

"Someone's here." The girl said tersely, scanning the rest of the room for any other traces of a presence.

The other girls quickly pulled back to the one that had called out, all of them standing back to back, ready for her now failed ambush.

Damn itching and weird feelings, ruining what should have been easy. Her tears were easy enough to repress, but the whispering voice now reverberating around her head was not.

 _"_ _Team. Friend. Family. Team. Yang. Friends. Wiess. Family. Team. Teammates. Blake. Family."_ It rang out inside her head, enticing, welcoming, nostalgic even. Its pull had her taking an involuntary step towards the girls, before she came to her senses and yanked her foot back. What was she doing?

 _"_ _Go to them. Family. Teammates. Family. Friends. Family."_ The voice responded.

What was this? It had never been this bad before-wait, there was one case, the man with the scorpion tail, he had gotten the voice to talk. It had only ever talked for him, shouting words of anger, revenge, sorrow. Crimson hadn't paid much attention to it then, its shouts had only caused her bloodlust to swell, making the fight easier and the taste of victory sweeter than it ever had been.

Yes, Crimson recalled with a happy smile, his head flying off his body shortly following his tail had been a joyous sight. But this was no time to reminisce on the past, she had intruders to deal with.

Focusing as best she could, Crimson sped forward, moving fast enough that she had swept the one named Yang off her feet just as they had registered her presence. Not wasting a second, Crimson pivoted on her scythe, kicking the other two away from her.

In the moment she had to think while they were recovering, Crimson decided to focus her attacks on the third girl, named Weiss, if the incessant whispering in her head was right.

Apparently, her speed was not willing to meet her expectations, because Weiss had time to stand up, and even block her scythe's swing. Something which almost never happened, not with Crimson's speed; disregarding the missed hit, she used her momentum to swing herself behind Weiss. Pulling the trigger on the sniper portion of her weapon, the recoil was strong enough to push past Weiss' thin rapier. Sending the girl flying again, Crimson found her footing before running to attack again.

She was intercepted by the other two girls, the whispers named the blond one Yang and the cat-eared one Blake. They worked in sync to keep her away from Weiss, Yang's punches coming in from every direction with the help of Blake's semblance.

Crimson had a feeling this fight wouldn't last much longer. Her arms had started to feel like lead once the other two girls had stepped in. It certainly wasn't normal; she had lasted far longer with tougher opponents than these three. So why was it so hard? Every move she made it felt like she was defying who she was. Why? She's seen countless deaths at her hands, so why were these three insignificant girls so special? Her agitation was rising in unison with the frantic shouts that filled her head with a cacophony of sound.

 _"_ _Stop! Please! Don't. Want. This. Teammates. Together. Family."_ It pleaded with her, and Crimson found herself starting to succumb to its will. Steeling her nerves, Crimson let out an enraged scream before lashing out again, her attacks as powerful as she could make them.

The three girls were dancing almost, weaving through and around the other as they worked in perfect unison to keep her at bay. Crimson's frustration was putting the edge back in her attacks though, and her speed alone was too much for any of them to handle. Weiss got close with her time glyphs, but Crimson was still faster, and could see that all the girls were tiring.

With a satisfied smirk, Crimson rushed in for what she knew would be the final hit on Weiss. Cocking the blade of her scythe backwards, she shot past Weiss, the blade of the scythe connecting with the unsuspecting girl. With a cry, Weiss was slammed into the wall, her aura breaking with a wave of white light.

Before the others could rush in to protect her again, Crimson ran to the fallen girl, aiming her sniper-rifle directly at Weiss' head. Blake and Yang stopped immediately, eyeing Crimson with fear and desperation.

"Let her go Rubes, please. You know you don't want to do this." Yang said quietly, lowering her gauntlets as a sign of peace.

"Tell me why you're here." Crimson snarled at her, trying to use her voice to cover the fact that her hands were shaking from where they were poised to shoot.

"We came to see you." Yang said desperately.

"Shut up! Nobody comes to just 'see me'! You have to have a reason, what is it?!" Ruby shouted, forcing down the tears that threatened to surface.

"Nothing, we just wanted to try and talk to you." Blake said, her own weapon still drawn.

"Why?!" Crimson shouted, shaking the gun menacingly.

"We just wanted to talk to you again, see if what everyone was saying was true." Weiss coughed from beneath Crimson.

"Who are you?" Crimson asked, letting her weariness slip through her façade. She was tired of being confused over of this, tired of caring about three strangers.

"We're your teammates Ruby. Don't you remember us?" Weiss asked tearfully, staring up at her with pleading eyes.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! Just shut up for two goddamn seconds!" Crimson roared, her free hand clawing at the side of her head. The order was just as much to the girls as it was to the whisper.

"Ruby, can't you see it? We just want to help you, as your friends." Blake said, taking a careful step forward.

 _"_ _Friends. Friends. Friends! Teammates! Family! Family! Family!"_ Crimson squeezed her eyes shut to try and block out the sudden wave of noise that had come from Blake's words.

"Move closer and she dies." Crimson snapped, opening her eyes to glare at Blake and Yang.

The two stopped instantly, staying silent. Crimson's gaze flickered between them and Weiss. No one made a sound, letting deafening silence encapsulate the room.

Crimson's mind was still racing though, trying its best to sort through the storm of emotions and calculations. She needed to kill them, she couldn't leave them alive after this; but, she didn't want to, even now she could feel the strength in her fingers fading. They said they wanted to help her, but she couldn't trust them on that, and anyways, how could they even help her?

Wait, what if they knew who she was looking for? A way to quell the yearning in her for revenge, the hunger that was ever-raging inside her. But she couldn't risk death, not at their hands, not before she had reached her goal. Maybe though, maybe death wouldn't be so bad.

Crimson could loosely feel her scythe drop from her now limp hands, clattering to the ground with loud clangs. Her only defense, gone from her grasp. What did she have to live for anyways? Nothing. She was just an empty shell set on vengeance for people whose faces she couldn't even recall.

Crimson could feel herself fall onto her knees, if only distantly. She could faintly hear the cries of the other three girls, but they were indiscernible through the whispers.

The whisper was forcing her back now, back into the cage of eternal blackness where she had dwelled for years. She fought back, but she knew her heart wasn't in it. It was probably better to let the whispers handle it anyways, maybe they could convince the three girls to let her live. But probably not, and Crimson was fine with that.

 _"_ _You'll be back. I need you. Soon. Soon. First, friends. Family. Teammates."_ Was the last thing Crimson heard before the door on her cage was shut, locking her inside again. She shut her eyes with a sigh, letting the darkness wash over her.

Hours passed, maybe years, maybe a millennia, it was hard to tell time in a void.

Light. There was light again. The door was open; the whisper had let her out. She lunged forward desperate to get back in control. She might have nothing to sustain her, but even that was better than not existing at all.

She came to at the sound of voices arguing.

"We can't turn her in; Ruby's still in there!" One voice yelled furiously.

"At leave her be, let her go back to her crazed murder spree. Ruby doesn't want that Yang, you heard her." A quiet voice argued back, rage evident in every word.

"What if we can help her though? She's just looking for someone, if we find this mystery person then maybe we can get our Ruby back." The first voice argued back, Crimson was sure now that it was Yang

"But Ruby said that Crimson-whoever it was, didn't want to give up control. What if Crimson never gives up, even after vengeance. What would we do then?" A third voice joined the argument.

"We can deal with that when it gets to that. For now, I say let's try and help her as best we can; you in?" Yang said.

"We can't leave something like this to chance, we can't risk that not with-" The second voice-Blake spoke up again, pausing when she felt Crimson's gaze on her.

Crimson took in her surroundings, she was seated against a wall, the other three girls standing around her. The girls backed up at her awakening, Weiss asking hesitantly, "Crimson?"

Crimson gave a short nod in conformation, picking up her scythe from where it sat beside her. The whispering and itching had finally stopped, and she breathed an involuntary sigh of relief at their absence.

"Crimson." Blake stated, her fingers inching closer to her sheathed weapon.

Crimson jumped up at the statement and ran towards the chapel's exit, only stopping at Yang's frantic call of "Wait!"

Crimson stopped and turned around to give the girls a final glance before turning around. She simply said "Goodbye. Cross me again and you won't be so lucky." And with that Crimson turned, paying no heed to the subsequent cries to stay.

Crimson ran away as fast as she could, slashing anything that got in her way. Her tears flew off her face, pushed away by the wind. She didn't want to face them, she couldn't face them, so she kept running. It was better like this anyways, if she wasn't around them, she wouldn't feel so broken, so guilty, so disappointed in herself. She didn't need them, not really. She knew that she could satisfy her hunger eventually, all on her own. She didn't need them, she didn't need them, she didn't want them, she chanted the mantra to herself, it becoming the very rhythm she ran to.

She stopped running eventually, looking around at the dark forest where she had ended up. She was alone, how she should be. Leaning against a tree, Crimson closed her eyes and curled into a ball, planning to sleep off the night's events. The soft croon of a crow was the only sound accompanying her into slumber, and she slept soundly under its watchful gaze.

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 **Now to go hype myself up for episode 7!**


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